Beverage containers, thermally insulated and other types, have become increasingly popular with the public for use with hot beverages, such as coffee, or with cold beverages. Hot beverages impose the most demanding thermal requirements on a beverage container while cold beverages typically place a lower thermal load on the beverage containers. One type of insulated beverage container has sidewalls manufactured from metal, particularly stainless steel, to withstand the high thermo-mechanical loading. Another type of insulated beverage container is manufactured with a plastic double wall, wherein the interstitial space between the inner and outer walls is filled with air, a foamed material, or some combination thereof.
A conventional beverage container is typically covered with a cover, a lid, a cap, or some combination of the above to reduce heat loss from the container and to reduce the likelihood of the beverage in the container spilling. One example of a beverage container covered with a lid is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,703 to Karp. Karp discloses a travel mug comprising a container and a lid in combination. The container includes a handle and an annular lip extending from an inner surface of the container. The lid includes a body having a perimeter sized to form a seal with a portion of the annular lip. The lid includes a cylindrical well with a vertical dividing wall that permits the lid to be rotated by hand. Two retaining arms extend from the underside of the lid and engage the annular lip to couple the lid with the container. The container includes diametrically opposed gaps in the annular lip that operate as passageways for the retaining arms. The lid, in turn, further includes diametrically opposed notches that are alignable with the gaps in the annular lip to permit drinking from the otherwise sealed container. One drawback of the travel mug described by Karp is that the container must be specially manufactured with dedicated structure (i.e., the annular lip) to engage the arms of the lid.
Another example of a beverage container with a cover is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,951 to Feltman, III, et al. (Feltman). Feltman describes a cover comprising a cap and a lid. The cap includes an inner groove to retain the cap on the container. The lid is rotatably mounted in the cap with a ring fitting that engages a complementary ring in the cap. Yet another example of a beverage container is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,173 to Mason, et al. (a dispensing assembly with two spaced, thermally insulating dispensing members rotatably mounted to one another and where one of the dispensing members engages the beverage container).
In addition, other examples of drinking receptacles with covers, lids, caps, or the like are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,67,748 to Albert (describing a cover with a poppet valve), U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,631 to Albert (describing a cover with a finger-operated valve), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,099,642 to Nergard (describing a cover with a valve assembly). In these descriptions, the valve is moveable to an open position, which permits removal of the beverage from the container, and moveable to a closed position, which substantially maintains the beverage within the container. In the aforementioned containers, the respective covers, lids, caps, and the like have numerous components generally arranged in a fairly complex assembly. Hence, one drawback of these containers is that the covers, lids, caps, and/or the like include numerous pockets, recesses, corners, and other interstitial zones that are often difficult to clean and thus maintain in a hygienic condition.
Yet another type of beverage container and cover combination is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,763,964 to Hurlbut et al. (Hurlbut) assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Hurlbut describes a lid with a rocker arm that is moveable between an open and a closed position. The lid attaches to the beverage container and includes both drinking and venting apertures and respective basins or recesses formed in the lid. The rocker arm includes venting and drinking seals for sealing the respective apertures in the lid when the rocker arm is in the closed position. The rocker arm is detachable from the lid to facilitate cleaning of the lid and the rocker arm. When drinking a beverage from the container, the rocker arm is rotatable from its closed position to its open position about only a single axis. The cover disclosed by Hurlbut is extremely successful with respect to user ergonomics, hygiene, fluid integrity, etc. However, it is somewhat expensive to manufacture.
Consequently, there is need for a beverage container with a covering device that overcomes at least some of the aforementioned drawbacks.